1984`s Top Business Deals Worth Twice `83 Figure, Magazine Reports

NEW YORK — The top 50 business deals of 1984 were worth twice as much as in the previous year, thanks to such whoppers as Chevron`s $13.2 billion purchase of Gulf Oil, Fortune magazine said Thursday.

In its annual compilation of the 50 biggest deals of the year, Fortune concluded that ``staggering sums changed hands`` during the year, which featured the two biggest acquisitions in corporate history -- the Chevron-Gulf deal and the Texaco`s $10.1 billion purchase of Getty Oil.

The total value of the transactions on Fortune`s list was $78.5 billion, double the 1983 figure.

All but four of the top 50 acquisitions involved companies in the same industry.

Investment bankers, who are paid huge sums to handle the mergers, made at least $367 million in fees on the 50 biggest deals, Fortune said. The amount was up more than 40 percent from 1983.

The Chevron-Gulf transaction alone generated $64 million for the three financial houses involved.

Goldman Sachs led the list of investment bankers, with $63 million in fees, followed by Morgan Stanley with $46 million, Fortune said.

Along with the Chevron-Gulf and Texaco-Getty deals, the top 10 acquisitions included Mobil`s acquisition of Superior Oil ($5.7 billion), Beatrice Co.`s purchase of Esmark ($2.7 billion) and Kiewit-Murdock Investment Corp.`s acquisition of Continental Group ($2.69 billion).

General Motors` purchase of Electronic Data Systems for $2.6 billion was the sixth-largest deal of the year, followed by Broken Hill Proprietary`s acquisition of Utah International from General Electric for $2.4 billion.

The Champion International-St. Regis Paper deal rLUSTRATION

HOLIDAY SALES GAINS MODEST The nation`s retailers Thursday reported ringing up only modest gains in Christmas sales as value-conscious consumers waited until the last three shopping days for heavy markdowns on merchandise.

``It was a much better Christmas season for consumers than retailers,`` said Monroe H. Greenstein, analyst at Bear, Stearns in New York.

He estimated overall retail sales for the 1984 Christmas season rose 7 percent to 8 percent -- in line with most analysts` expectations -- compared with the robust 12 percent surge in December 1983.

Chicago-based Sears, Roebuck and Co., the largest U.S. retailer, said its sales for the five weeks ended Dec. 29 were up 4.7 percent to $3.42 billion from $3.27 billion in the same period last year.

Sears Chairman Edward R. Telling said Sears stores around the nation experienced record sales in the final days before Christmas despite the mild winter weather.

K mart Corp., the No. 2 retailer, announced its December sales jumped 17.1 percent to $3.58 billion from $3.06 billion a year earlier. K mart is headquartered in Troy, Mich.

Third-ranked J.C. Penney Co., based in New York, reported its sales advanced 6.8 percent to $2.27 billion from $2.13 billion in December 1983.

No. 4 Federated Department Stores, based in Cincinnati and the parent of Burdines and Bloomingdale`s, recorded 10.3 percent sales rise in December to $1.72 billion from $1.56 billion a year earlier.

Federated Chairman Howard Goldfeder said ``sales were negatively impacted in the period -- December -- by unseasonably warm weather throughout much of the Southwest, Northeast and Midwest.``

Dayton-Hudson Corp., the No. 5 retailer based in Minneapolis, recorded a 15.8 percent rise in December sales to $1.46 million from $1.26 million the year before.

``There was a strong pickup in sales in the three days prior to Christmas which extended through the fifth week of the month,`` Greenstein said. ``It was a late Christmas season as anticipated because consumers continued to buy much closer to their needs and waited for markdowns.``

Walter Loeb, analyst at Morgan Stanley & Co. in New York, said ``the consumer, being very aware of value, came out of hiding toward the end of the Christmas season in response to heavy markdowns.``

The December results show the consumer will spend aggressively when stimulated by price-cutting but is shopping for value in a trend that should permist through the first part of 1985, he said.

Montgomery Ward & Co., the sixth-largest retailer and a subsidiary of Mobil Corp., said its December sales were up 0.1 percent to $1.026 billion from $1.025 billion in December 1983. But the Chicago-based company had record results in the four days before Christmas.

F.W. Woolworth Co., based in New York, logged a 3.4 percent sales gain in December to $971.11 million from $939.24 million a year earlier. U.S. sales were up 6.9 percent.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville, Ark., had a 33 percent sales increase to $932 million from $701 million in December 1983. The May Department Stores Co., of St. Louis, posted a 10.8 percent rise to $861.9 million from $777.7 million in December last year.

Allied Department Stores Corp., which owns Bonwit Teller and Brooks Brothers, announced a 4.9 percent advance in December sales to $707.9 million from $674.7 million.